Anti-Gay Activist Condemns SCOTUS’ Rulings

The president of the National Organization For Marriage, an anti-gay marriage group bent on outlawing gay marriage throughout the country, sounded off on the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, saying the move to strike down Section 3 of the federal measure is an "absolute travesty," ABC News reports.

NOM’s Brian Brown’s comments come from an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. Brown, who has been a longtime opponent of gay marriage rights, downplayed the Supreme Court’s rulings (where the justices also dismissed an appeal made by supporters of California’s Prop 8) stressing that same-sex marriage was not legalized in every state.

"The court said, well, the proponents don’t have standing. It did not say that there was a constitutional right to redefine marriage," Brown said on "This Week" Sunday.

Brown was also outraged at the defeat of Prop 8 and that Californian officials refused to defend the anti-gay measure, calling the lack of action "horrific for our republic."

"If the governor and attorney general don’t want to defend that law, you’ve just gutted the initiative and referendum process. This is not an American value," Brown said. He also commented on Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority decision to strike down DOMA.

"Well, I don’t think that that is inevitable," Brown said, according to the Huffington Post. "What Justice Scalia is pointing to is the absolute travesty of Kennedy’s decision in the DOMA case, which really is incoherent. He doesn’t even lay out the basis of what his legal reasoning is." He added that Justice Kennedy "says something that is patently untrue" that a person who believes "this truth, that marriage is the union of a man and a woman is somehow motivated by animus and discrimination."

Brown claims this assumption "leads to discrimination against those of us who know that there’s something unique and special about husbands and wives, mothers and fathers coming together in marriage."

"There will be a lot of attempts to use this decision to redefine marriage in other states. And we will stand for the truth wherever it is," he said.

Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, also appeared on the program and said he is ready to continue to "fight this battle on all fronts," through state legislation, referenda and federal court cases to expand marriage equality across the country. He also strongly, and unsurprisingly, disagreed with Brown’s sentiments.

"American values really did win," Griffin said, according to HuffPost. "With the erasing of the Proposition 8, same-sex couples in the state of California started getting married on Friday. And now that DOMA has been erased from the books thanks to that historic decision, those couples across the country who are legally married, their relationships and their families will be recognized as such."

Griffin reiterated that he and other gay rights activists are ready to "fight at the ballot box where there are opportunities, we’ll fight at the state legislature, and ultimately this will come back to our federal courts."

Stephanopoulos then asked Griffin if he thinks he’ll win his legal fights.

"I have all expectation that we will," he said. "This country has always moved historically - whether it was women’s rights, or the Civil Rights Movement of the 50’s and 60’s to today - we have always moved to greater inclusion and treating all of our citizens equally under the law."

"We’re well on our way. We’re not there yet, but we’re well on our way," he added.

Special Report: In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act - a law that denied federal benefits to married same-sex couples. Jan Crawford reports on what impact the decision will have immediately and in the long term.